Value Premium

Do earnings surprises work differently for value and growth stocks? If so, can investors exploit the difference? In the September 2009 draft of their paper entitled “When Two Anomalies meet: Post-Earnings Announcement Drift and Value-Glamour Anomaly”, Zhipeng Yan and Yan Zhao investigate the combined effects of the value premium and the post-earnings announcement drift anomaly. They first sort stocks into quintiles according to some measure of value (book-to-market ratio, earnings-to-price ratio, cash-flow-to-price ratio or three-year average sales growth) and then allocate firms within these quintiles to six categories according to sign of the most recent quarterly earnings surprise (+/-/0) and the direction of the most recent earnings announcement abnormal return (+/-). Using stock price, earnings estimate and accounting data for a broad sample of firms over the period June 1984 through December 2008, they find that: Keep Reading

Is the book-to-market ratio (B/M) the most efficient way to identify value stocks? In their October 2009 paper entitled “The Enterprise Multiple Factor and the Value Premium”, Tim Loughran and Jay Wellman investigate the Enterprise Multiple (EM), calculated as (equity value + debt value + preferred stock – cash)/ EBITDA, as a replacement for B/M in defining value. Using common stock prices and accounting data for a broad sample of non-financial firms (with outliers suppressed) over the period 1963 through 2008, they conclude that: Keep Reading

Typically, value means unexciting low-beta stocks, and momentum means exciting high-beta stocks. Does “typically” mean always? In their September 2009 paper entitled “The Changing Beta of Value and Momentum Stocks”, Andrea Au and Robert Shapiro investigate the relationships between beta and value and between beta and momentum under varying stock market conditions. Using monthly beta distributions for value (based on book-to-market ratio) and momentum (based on prior 12-month return) sorts of the Russell 3000 stocks over the period December 1978 through March 2009, they conclude that: Keep Reading

A reader asked: “Regarding ‘Combined Value-Momentum Tactical Asset Class Allocation’, have you developed any sort of screen or model that ranks value exactly as studied in the referenced paper (asset yield or earnings yield)?” Keep Reading

The value premium and the momentum effect are arguably complementary drivers of financial asset pricing dynamics, with the latter alternatively creating and extinguishing the former. Does empirical evidence support this view across asset classes? In the February 2009 version of their paper entitled “Value and Momentum Everywhere”, Clifford Asness, Tobias Moskowitz, and Lasse Pedersen investigate the interplay of value and momentum across asset classes worldwide, as follows: (1) stocks within four major countries; (2) country equity indexes; (3) government bonds; (4) currencies; and, (5) commodities. They calculate momentum based on return over the past 12 months, excluding the most recent month, for all asset classes. They estimate value based on measures commonly used for each asset class (such as book-to-market ratio for stocks). Using price and value characteristics data for broad samples of these asset classes, they conclude that: Keep Reading

Capitalization-weighted stock indexes arguably incorporate a performance drag by overweighting overvalued stocks and underweighting undervalued stocks. In their February 2009 paper entitled “Fundamental Indexing: An Analysis of the Returns, Risks and Costs of Applying the Strategy”, Roel Houwer and Auke Plantinga examine the raw and risk-adjusted returns of hypothetical indexes of European stocks weighted by dividend, book value, revenue and operating income. They take the capitalization-weighted Stoxx 600 Index as a benchmark. Using monthly stock returns and firm fundamental data for the Stoxx 600, along with relevant risk-adjustment data, for the period 1993-2007, they conclude that: Keep Reading

Are the size effect and the value premium peculiar to 20th century markets, or are they enduring characteristics of equity market behavior? In the January 2009 preliminary version of their paper entitled “The Asset Pricing Anomalies in 19th Century Britain”, Qing Ye, Charles Hickson and John Turner measure the size and value anomalies using an original 19th century dataset. Using monthly stock prices and annual dividends for 1,051 stocks traded on the London Stock Exchange during March 1825 to December 1870, they conclude that: Keep Reading

Do returns associated with the four famous factors (market, size, book-to-market, momentum) vary systematically with the state of the market (such as bull or bear)? In their January 2009 paper entitled “The Effect of Market Regimes on Style Allocation”, Manuel Ammann and Michael Verhofen investigate how returns for the four factors differ between market states as determined by a multivariate two-state model of the overall equity market. Using U.S. stock market and factor data spanning 1927-2004, they conclude that: Keep Reading

How does the value premium fare when analysis appends data from the last few years to the data used in seminal studies? Does it persist, both in the U.S. and worldwide? In their October 2008 paper entitled “Value vs. Glamour: A Global Phenomenon”, the Brandes Institute refines and extends the duration of past value-growth research and expands its reach to global equity markets. The research focuses on price-to-book value ratio (P/B) as the principal value indicator, but also considers price-to-cash flow ratio (P/CF) and price-to-earnings ratio (P/E). Using stock returns and firm fundamentals for a broad sample of U.S. companies over the period April 1968-April 2008, and comparable data for 23 other country equity markets over the period June 1980-June 2008, they conclude that: Keep Reading

Does the value premium vary systematically with the state of the economy? More specifically, do value and growth stocks respond differently to negative macroeconomic shocks? In their September 2008 paper entitled “Value versus Growth: Time-Varying Expected Stock Returns”, Huseyin Gulen, Yuhang Xing and Lu Zhang investigate the relationship between economic conditions (recession or expansion) and the value premium. Using monthly returns for a broad sample of stocks over the period 1954-2007 (648 months), along with contemporaneous firm fundamentals and macroeconomic data, they conclude that: Keep Reading